Sample Sources
The sources below are those contained in our three curated collections—covering themes of Passover, Gender Roles, and Holocaust Resistance. They represent a fraction of the thousands of sources that will be available when the full site launches in 2024.
The Amsterdam Residence of Jeronimo Nunes da Costa (Mazes Curiël)
The wealthy merchant and diplomat Jeronimo Nunes da Costa (Mozes Curiël; 1620–1697) was born in Florence. In 1627, his family settled in Hamburg, where his father, a businessman, became an important…
Regulations: On Economic Activities and the Observance of Shabbat
Enactments of our saintly, most illustrious teacher, R. Meshullam Feibush, head of the talmudic academy and the ecclesiastical court of the holy community of Kraków, to prevent people from violating…
Responsum: On Painting Synagogue Walls
In answer to those who ask me whether or not it is permitted to paint the walls of the synagogue with pictures of grass, trees, and calyxes, we researched the question and our answer is as follows:
At…
Responsum: On the Right to Bequeath a Mitzvah
Question: Since it is true from time immemorial and ancient years that we observe the customs of our ancestors, as is the practice of the Musta‘arabim [Arabic-speaking Jews] everywhere among the Jews…
Pesak (Decision): On a Secret Marriage
At a sitting of three judges we the undersigned sat as a court on the fourth day of the month of Adar 2 in the year 5376 [1616] here in Vercelli after permission was given to us from his excellency…
Letter to His Son
How good and agreeable is it, when brothers live in one house, and how much more father and son
Peace to my beloved, dear and darling son, whose soul is bound to my soul, the intimate friend, the…
Responsum: On Coffee
Question: I will inform you regarding my opinion on the fruit called al bun, and about kahve [coffee], which is the broth brewed from the husks of that fruit, and which is drunk by non-Jews, whether…
Amulet for the Evil Eye
Amulets for the evil eye; tested. Write on either a kosher or deerskin parchment, on a day of [reading from] the Torah, before eating anything. And calculate in that hour which day it is and which…
Igerot ha-remez (Epistles of the Secret)
To the eminent sage, his honor our rabbi, R. Samson Bacchi of Casale, may the Compassionate One keep and preserve him
Ma‘avar Yabbok (Crossing the Jabbok)
And the sages have stated, in regard to the reward of those who serve the Almighty and carry out His will in this world, in Song of Songs Rabbah 6:8: Anyone who occupies himself with the Torah in this…
Netivot ‘olam (Eternal Paths)
We read in Proverbs:If you make your ear attentive to wisdomAnd your mind open to discernment;If you call to understandingAnd cry aloud to discernment,If you seek it as you do silverAnd…
Shever poshe‘im (Destruction of the Transgressors)
And they permitted themselves to place a blemish in the holiness of heaven and the holiness of the study of the holy Torah, to place the filth of the primeval serpent, behaving according to their…